Here's How I'm Planning for Maternity Leave (and Getting Ahead in Podcast Content) [Ep. 145]

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

If you haven't heard me talk about this already, I am currently pregnant and due with our second daughter on April 22nd. Soo many of you have asked me, "Are you going to take leave?" And the answer is YES. Hell yes.

My experience with my first maternity leave was when I was still in the classroom, and it was definitely a driving force in why I started my business. I remember the first day I dropped her at daycare; I can still feel that awful pit in my stomach and so many tears...from me.

I didn't have a choice with my first daughter, but now that I have my own online business, things are going to look a lot different.

I know a lot of people in the online space who are not taking any kind of maternity leave, and it's totally their choice, but, goodness, I really encourage you to take SOME kind of leave. I know it might seem overwhelming, but it IS possible with some prep work, even if you're a one person show.

And even if you have no plans to go on maternity or paternity leave, this episode will still be helpful for you in case you ever decide to take a planned leave for a vacation or just some time away from your business and podcast.

So today, I'm talking you through my tentative plan and how I'm planning for maternity leave when it comes to client work, my online course and digital product side of my business, and my podcast (spoiler: you can still expect weekly episodes). I'm also sharing some tips from YOU all when planning for an extended leave as an entrepreneur.

Stay tuned to hear how it actually goes! I am going into this leave telling myself that I'm going to listen to my body and my mind, and there may be certain little things that I ease back into sooner than 3 months if I'm ready. But I'm really looking forward to enjoying those precious early days with our new baby girl.

Topics covered:

  • How I'm planning for maternity leave and my tentative plan

  • The strategy call that helped me map out my general business and marketing plan

  • All the prep that's gone into supporting my retainer clients

  • How I've prepped my podcast to continue to support my business

  • YOUR best tips for extended leaves as an entrepreneur

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

favorite podcasting resources:

  • Sara Whittaker 0:01

    Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whitaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators.

    Hey there and welcome back to podcasting for educators. If you haven't heard me talk about this already, I am currently pregnant and do with our second daughter on April 22. One of the first things I thought about when I found out I was pregnant was how am I going to handle my maternity leave. And now here we are several months later, at the time that I'm recording this, it is mid February, and I thought it'd be helpful to share how I'm planning my maternity leave. Because yes, I definitely am taking one. And even if you are someone who has absolutely no plans to go on maternity or paternity leave ever or anytime in the near future, I think that this could still be helpful for you in case you ever decide to take a plan leave for a vacation or just some extended time away from your business. And from your podcast. I'm going to talk through how I'm prepping for leave when it comes to client work my course and digital product side of my business and my podcast. When I had our first daughter, six years ago, almost seven years ago, now, I was in the classroom teaching second grade, and I didn't have much choice when it came to maternity leave. I don't know about where you live. But our leave was total crap, for lack of a better word, we had to use all of our sick leave before maternity leave would kick in. And then once it did, it was only a few weeks paid, I actually had to take one month completely unpaid leave to get any kind of real time to recover and spend time with my baby. And even then, and I'm sure so many of you can relate to this. Even after having some leave. It was absolutely devastating to go back to work so early. When your baby is still so little I remember the first day I dropped her off at daycare, I can still feel that awful pit in my stomach, and so many tears from me, she was definitely much better than I was. And I'm not going to turn this into a podcast episode about how ridiculous postpartum care and maternity and paternity leave is in the United States. But it's just so bad. Anyway, I'm saying that because that moment of having to go back to work so early. And the months to follow that once I was back at work was definitely a driving force in why I ultimately ended up leaving the classroom. And starting my business, I have really been dreaming of the day when we had another baby. And we didn't have to rush back to the classroom and drop my newborn off at daycare only to basically have it be bedtime by the time we got home from work. And like I said, I know so many of you can relate to that feeling like when you're in the classroom or when when you're in your in person full time job. And your kids at daycare, you feel like you don't get any real time with them during the week. And I'm saying all this because so many people have asked me Are you going to take leave this time around? And my answer is yes, absolutely. I've heard recently of a lot of people in the online space who are not taking any kind of leave, and think that they can just jump right back into things. And it's totally your choice. Of course, if you want to take leave, if you don't how much leave, you want to take all of that. But I really encourage you if you're in this position to try and take some kind of leave. It is possible with some prep work, even if it feels like it's not possible to step away it is with the necessary prep and time that comes with that. Even if you're a one woman or one man show who doesn't have any kind of team or people supporting you in your business. But anyway, for me, my tentative plan is to do a three month leave. From mid April to mid July. However, I am going into this really telling myself that I'm going to listen to my body, listen to my mind. And there may be certain little things that I kind of ease back into sooner than three months if I'm ready. I'm somebody who I mean I enjoy working. I enjoy working on things in my business. And so if I feel after some time, if I feel like I want to do a couple of little things here and there, then I probably will. But let's break down how I'm prepping the different aspects of my business. If you don't already know I have kind of two sides to my business. I have a small podcasting agency where we have our monthly retainer clients that we produce weekly podcast episodes for. And then I have my digital resource side of my business where I have my online courses and resources. So let's start with kind of just how I'm prepping like my general business and marketing, which comes with that online course side of my business. So I knew that when I took maternity leave, I would need to hire additional help for my retainer clients while I was out. So it was extra important to me that I had a really solid long term plan in place for driving traffic to my digital resources while I'm on leave. So the first thing I did to prep for this was I had a strategy session with Melanie Battistelli. She's been on the podcast before she is an OBM, and a launch strategist. And this session, it was a 90 minute session, it gave me so much clarity, I went into it telling her like, this is what I want out of this session, I want to be able to kind of have a plan for my marketing, while I'm out on leave and figure out how I can set things up so that I'm driving traffic to specific places while while I'm out. And like I said, this session was so helpful, it gave me a monthly focus for not just while I'm out on leave, but actually for the rest of 2024. And we kind of walked through and figured out which digital products I'm going to be focusing on each month, we talked about, you know, will I run Facebook ads this month or not? How? If not? How am I going to utilize my different platforms like email and podcast, to drive traffic to certain places. If this sounds like something that would be helpful for you, I mean, you don't need to be going on leave to do this. You can do this anytime. And I highly recommend it. And now I really plan to book these sessions at least a couple of times a year on going because it was so so helpful just to have that outside perspective, kind of helping me think through all of my different offerings, and the timeline of things and how I could really leverage content and products that I already have. So I'll leave a link for Mel's strategy sessions in the show notes. Now the next thing I needed to think through was how I was going to handle Instagram while I'm out because that's definitely when it comes to social media. That's kind of the platform that I focus on. And this might not be the best advice for your business. But it's what's going to be best for me ultimately, is what I decided I do my own Instagram right now I don't have anybody doing it for me. And so the way that I'm approaching this for leave is I'm going to schedule what I can ahead of time in terms of posts. But I know that it won't be a ton and it won't be enough to last me that whole three months. So I'm going to focus just on doing Instagram Stories, mostly when I can, I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself there. When it comes to Instagram. The next thing I needed to think through was my email marketing. So very similar to Instagram, I'm going to schedule what I can ahead of time. But again, I know that it won't be for the full three months. To me, it's just too much to do ahead of time, in addition to everything else that I am prepping. However, with that it works for me, because I might be the minority here. But I typically write my weekly emails a few days before they go out anyway versus scheduling them way ahead of time. I just prefer to write them in the moment. So I'll have the first month of emails scheduled out ahead of time for leave. And then this is probably one of those tasks like I was talking about at the beginning that all like once I feel up to it, I'll probably ease back into doing this once a week. Or to be totally honest, I might have to go a couple of weeks without an email going out. And that is not the end of the world, it's going to be okay, I have been really consistent with my email, I write one every single week. And if I have to miss a couple of emails, it's okay. I've been working really, really hard over the past year to set things up on the back end of my business like nurture sequences, so that things are kind of already set up and working for me and I'm able to provide value for people who are joining my email list even when I'm not doing it in the moment. Then when it comes to my inbox, I toyed with the idea of hiring my VA to manage my inbox for me while I'm gone, but ultimately I decided against that I'm going to have an away message on for my email for any emails that come through my inbox. And it will be a pretty detailed away message with letting people know that I'm out how long I'm going to be out four along with a list of FAQs that will direct people to various resources and answer their questions. I'm not setting a specific date on when I'll be back in my inbox, but I know myself and I will likely pop in from time to time just to keep things from getting too cluttered. I'd love to say like, Oh, I'm not having my eyes on my inbox for three months. But in reality that's going to, that's going to make a lot more work for me when I'm ready to come back. So I probably will pop in from time to time just to kind of clear things out. But again, I think we're so used to needing to have this urgency to answer every question every email, right then and there. And it's okay to step away from things for a bit, as long as you are making that clear to people. So I'm not going to if I get a question, I'm not going to be answering it right there in the moment, or get back to them in one day. But I will be letting people know why that's not happening. I've also been slowly unsubscribing from emails I get that I never open or no longer want to be subscribed to so every day over the past couple of months, when I checked my inbox, if there's an email from someone who I need to unsubscribe from, I do it right then in there. And I'm doing this so that it will help limit the number of emails that I'm getting when I'm out. Okay, next up, is how I am prepping my retainer client work while I'm out. retainer clients are definitely the bulk of my business and income. And I would never want to leave our clients high and dry while I'm gone. So things are actually going to be running as normal while I'm out with a lot of prep on the back end. So I looked back and checked the exact date of when I did this. So I sent an email out. Now remember, I'm due in my due date is April 22. I sent an email to my clients at the beginning of January, it was on January 2, so right at the New Year. So I was a little over 20 weeks at that point, letting them know what was going on, let them know that I was pregnant and what my tentative plan was, I know some people who have retainer clients, when they go out on maternity leave, they have their clients give them all their episodes before they go out on leave. And they try to do them all ahead of time, before they go out on leave, in addition to their regular episodes that they're producing. That felt like a lot not only on our end, but also on the client end, that just didn't feel like a fair expectation to put on our clients. So I decided against that. Our contracts for retainer clients state that clients get us episodes at least two weeks before they air and lots of them batch their episodes anyway. So I just decided to keep our normal expectation when it came to Episode submission.

    I have a small team of amazing women who helped to get these client episodes out every single week, there are systems that have been put in place. And this is something that I have worked very, very hard at for the last couple of years is putting these systems and routines in place. We use clickup. for project management, it's a pretty robust situation that we got going on and click up. And so for the most part, it's a pretty well oiled machine when it comes to our production schedule and our routines. So from our clients perspective, it's going to be just business as usual. It's not, they're not really going to be affected they they don't have to get us their episodes crazy early or anything like that. The biggest thing that I am needing to prep here is the roles that I play with retainer clients. So there are still a lot of shows that I'm doing production for, or at least pieces of the production. Plus, I always have final eyes on things and handle all the client communication, when it comes to like questions that they have, or if we're talking through something that we want to try with their podcasts if they need to get on a call, keeping their episode schedules on track, updating their stats, all of that. Those are things that I am always doing. So in the months kind of leading up to April, which is you know where I am right now at time of recording. I've been working on filling in the gaps and replacing myself in production tasks. So people who were already on the podcasting for educators team are taking on additional tasks, and I'm hiring one additional person. And I've been doing this slowly over the course of a few months. And like I said we already have clear systems in place. So this has gone really well so far. And then one of the members of my team brandy, who also produces this podcast is essential Really replacing me while I'm out. So she's going to be the person who has final eyes on everything, and will be the point of contact for clients, she was already starting to take on this kind of like account manager type of role. And so this is such a huge help to me. So brandy along with the other ladies, they already know our systems, they know this business, they know our clients podcast. So I'm really grateful for how everything is working out. And they're absolutely incredible. And I 100% trust them, and they do amazing work. So I feel really confident that things are going to go smoothly. Having my eyes away from client work is by far going to be the most difficult part of leave for me, it's going to be really hard not to like constantly want to check in on things and make sure that things are going well. But I know that everything's gonna get done just as it should be while I'm gone. And honestly, this is going to be good for me to do, we really should all be able to step away from our businesses from periods of time without everything just crashing down, especially as we work to reach those different stages of growth in our business. Okay, lastly, let's talk about how I am prepping my podcast for maternity leave, probably comes as no surprise that of all the platforms I put the most energy into, it's going to be my podcast, my podcast is kind of my non negotiable here, during maternity leave, I'm not going to be skipping any episodes, I'm not going to be re airing previous episodes, I didn't want to just put out a bunch of random content just because I'm going on leave. So I have worked really hard to intentionally plan out all of my episodes, so that my podcasts can really help my business and help my listeners while I'm away. The two things I knew I needed to do to plan my podcast content was get far ahead and get far ahead early. Second thing was to have a plan. So I really started to get ahead further ahead than I already than I normally am with episodes back in December. So by the time I go on leave in mid April, I'll have episodes recorded at least through August. My number one piece of advice with prepping your podcasts for an extended leave is to have a content calendar. This has really been my lifeline. As I pieced together my plan while I'm out and really just helps keep you on track so that I know that I'm not just like I said before throwing out random content. Again, my strategy call with Mel that I mentioned at the beginning also really helped me plan out my podcast content because I kind of have a theme I'm sticking with each month in terms of how I want my listeners and my email subscribers to take action. So while I am out on leave my just so you know, so you can know what to expect as a listener is my episodes are going to consist of new solo episodes, so that doesn't need much explanation. It's also going to consist of guest takeover episodes. So this is something I'm really excited about. These are going to be episodes of previous guests that have been on this show. And they are coming on to take over the podcast for a week. So they have recorded an episode specifically for this podcast, brand new content for you. That will be airing while I'm out. So in these episodes, you're gonna hear an intro and an outro from me. And then the rest of the episode will be from one of these guests. So you can kind of think of this as like a bunch of little free mini trainings that you're getting. I talked through the topics with each of these guests. And so they're going to be things that haven't been covered on the podcast before and that are going to be a good fit for listeners of this show. So I'm really excited for that. And I hope that you guys enjoy it. While I'm out on leave also have several guest episodes featuring listeners of this podcast. So maybe you're listening right now. And you might be one of those people who aren't going to be featured on the podcast. That was a goal of mine this year was to get some more of you on this show just to be able to highlight your voices and be able to share about your unique experience with podcasting. And I've already recorded several of these episodes and they're they're so fun to record. It's been really cool to be able to connect with a lot of you see you face to face. Hear about your individual story. Every one of these episodes kind of has a big takeaway or like a specific thing that we're focusing on in the episode. So be on the lookout for more of those. And then in July I believe it is is when I haven't scheduled is I did repurpose one training that I have, it's a training that I did first summit. It's one of my favorite trainings that I've ever recorded. And it's, it's a high quality training, it's not a bunch of fluff, it's something that you're going to be able to take action on. And, you know, I recorded it with my mic and everything. So it sounds nice. And so I am going to repurpose that for this podcast. And I'm splitting it up into two parts. So it will actually be two episodes. And what I did for that just kind of like a tip for you guys, if you ever want to do this for your podcast, I do recommend anytime that you're repurposing any kind of training, not just to throw it up there. But like, listen back to it and create an intro for it for your podcast that lets people know where this training is coming from. So they have some context before they listen to it. All right, so that is my plan for episodes and I have just been doing a ton of recording. Like I said, from like December through March, I'm not doing any recording past March. So by the end of March, I'll have all of my episodes recorded for leave and beyond through the summer, I'll also be running dynamic ads that I can record ahead of time and set dates for ahead of time, so that I can have all of that set, I don't have to do any of that when I'm on leave.

    And you know, like I said, I have Brandi who is my podcast manager. So after recording and providing her with episode details, she really takes it from there. And if it weren't for that, I don't know that I would be able to get this far ahead. So I mean, if you're able to, and you're planning an extended leave, hire the help, it's going to be so worth it. One thing I just love so much about podcasting is that, you know, I have a plan for all of these new episodes while I'm gone. But then I also have my whole archive of episodes. And I have episodes in my emails and my nurture sequences, and, you know, on social media and all of these places. So I really know that my podcast is kind of working for me on the back end, even with older content. So all in all, I'm really trying to be as strategic and organized as I can, when it comes to things like Instagram, like I said, I'll do what I can do. And that's just going to have to be enough for now, when you're planning to be out on an extended leave, and you don't have this huge team, that's like doing all of your marketing for you. You can only do so much. That's the place that I'm in, I have helped with my podcast. But when it comes to any other kind of marketing, like my emails, or my social media or you know any other kind of like visibility things that's, that's on me, I don't have other people helping me with that. And so I just have to kind of pick and choose what I am going to focus the most on. And recognize that that's the season that I am in right now. And later this year, I'll be in a season where I'll be able to pick things up. And I think that's really hard for a lot of us as entrepreneurs to do is take a step back from certain things. And I know it's going to be easier said than done. But I really do think that we all deserve time to step away. And I know, for me personally in this specific situation, I want to enjoy that newborn time, and really soak it all up because it goes by so fast. All right, I want to end this episode by sharing a few tips from me, you guys. So I had posted on my Instagram Stories asking for you all to share some of your best tips for planning a maternity leave or an extended leave as an entrepreneur and you guys shared some really great things. So I'm just gonna have run through some of these tips that you all shared. Number one, you said that you need to have systems and SOPs laid out if you are going to have a team take on more yes, if you don't already have SOPs in place, this is such a good time to do that. Someone else also said Be really clear with your team what you do and do not want to hear about while you're on leave. And I thought that this was such a good piece of advice. This is something that I hadn't completely thought through and it made me start thinking about that. Like if you have people who are on your team and who help you regularly, there might be certain things that they would typically come and ask you. But you might not want that while you're on leave. And they're probably things that that your team members can take initiative on and make decisions about without your input. Someone else also said to spend time planning and scheduling out your non negotiables like your podcast, email and socials. 100%. Like I said, for me, my non negotiable is my podcast. build out a master calendar where you schedule out your long form content and your emails. Great idea. limit how many things you decide to schedule per week, for example, one email, one Instagram post, etc. Yes, I completely agree. Like, like I said a few minutes ago, even if it's less than what you're used to doing. That's probably What needs to be done, you need to do a little bit less when you're planning for a leave like this batch extra in advance extra episodes, social media, email, etc. Yep. Repurpose as much as you can don't try to create all new content beforehand. That's another really great idea. I think that this could be done really well for social media, go back and look at some of like your most your highest performing posts, and just recreate some posts based on that. Someone else said, enjoy your rest. Yes, that is something that we all need to actually do while we're away from our business. And then lastly, hire the help not just in business, but at home to like with laundry, cooking, etc. And if you aren't able to hire help with things like cleaning, don't be afraid to ask for help from people in your life around you. Because most people, especially during that postpartum stage, like they want to help and they're not always sure the best way to do that. Alright, so stay tuned to hear how my maternity leave actually ends up going. If you aren't already, definitely follow me over on Instagram at podcasting for educators, because that is likely where I'll be sharing the most on my stories. While I'm out. Wish me luck, because I am definitely type A and we'll see if I can keep the promise to myself to pull away for three months. And really, actually enjoy those precious early days with our new baby. And if you enjoyed this episode, and have enjoyed some of my other episodes, I would love, love love for you to go into Apple podcasts, find this show, scroll all the way down and leave a rating and review. I know that you have a million things to do every day. But I promise this will only take a minute. And I read every single one of them. It completely makes my day when I say that I have a new review. It also helps other people decide if this is the show that they should listen to. So take just a minute and go do that today. If you do thank you so much, and I'll catch you here next week. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

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Sara Whittaker